A SINGLE mother and her five young children are living out of a garden shed on the southside of the city after being given just two days to leave the rented accommodation they had been in for seven years.
Lisa Marie Morey (31), and her children aged 3, 8, 9, 12 and 13 had lived happily in their privately rented house in Carew Park up until 10 weeks ago. According to Ms Morey, two men came to her door and told her the landlord had sold the house she was renting and that she could go “the easy way or the hard way”.
The young mother told the Limerick Post she was so frightened that she vacated the house two days later, leaving most of her belongings behind including brand new bunk-beds and a plasma-screen TV.
With nowhere else to go, she returned to her family home at Collins Avenue on the Roxboro Road, which was already occupied by her two parents and brother and his two children.
For the past two months, she has been living out of cardboard boxes in a damp and dirty garden shed at the rear of the family home. Her two daughters have been staying ‘on and off’ with friends and family in County Limerick, while her two eldest boys now have to share a bed.
Meanwhile, her youngest son, only 3, sleeps with his grandmother who suffers badly with arthritis and often needs to use a wheelchair.
“I’ve been very depressed, it’s not been easy. This is no way to live. All I want is a home for my children. If my three-year-old needs a nappy change, I have to take him out to the shed. We’ve no room and I’ve even had to sleep out in the shed myself,” said a tearful Ms Morey.
“There’s a perfectly good house boarded up across the road and I’m here living out of my mother’s shed. All the Council have to do is take the boards down off it and let me in. I’d do it up myself,” she insists.
The unemployed mother, who claims she has been on the Council housing list for 12 years, said no one including the local authority and Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan, who she says is aware of her plight, have offered any assistance.
Lisa Marie’s father Jerry is angry that no one has lifted a finger to help. He said that the situation is “stressful” and impacting on the entire family.
“This is no way for anyone to have to live. My daughter and grandkids’ clothes are all damp from being out in the shed. It’s like something you’d see on the television out in Nigeria. Foreigners are treated better by the Council than our own and get the best of houses, it’s an absolute disgrace,” he added.
A spokeswoman for Limerick City and County Council explained that in an effort to respect the dignity of members of the public who require the homeless services funded by the local authority and the HSE, it cannot comment on individual cases.
“However, it is important to highlight that every person who finds themselves or their family homeless will be supported in a proactive and engaged manner by staff in the Homeless Person Centre on Cecil Street,” said a Council spokeswoman.
